Xbox Was Knocking On Doors About Ninja Gaiden 4 ‘Six-Seven Years Ago’

The project was officially announced this week

by Liam Doolan Yesterday, 2pm

Image: Xbox, Koei TecmoThe surprise of the Xbox Developer Direct this week was the announcement of Ninja Gaiden 4, and according to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, it’s been a long time in the making.

In the same chat with Gamertag Radio, he revealed how Xbox was actually knocking on doors around “six-seven years ago” about this project:

“That was a project we kind of knocked on some doors and said ‘hey, what if’ like six-seven years ago”

Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja also noted in the Direct this week how “it’s been many years” since it “stealthily, like ninjas – teamed up with PlatinumGames”, so it’s a “happy” moment to finally be able to share the news with everyone.

This particular series has a special connection to Xbox – with the original entry in the trilogy starting as an Xbox ‘exclusive’. All up though, it’s now been “more than 10 years” since the previous major Ninja Gaiden release (Ninja Gaiden 3).

Phil also added in his latest interview how Xbox’s relations with Koei Tecmo (and Japanese developers in general) are going great right now:

“I feel great about our relationships with the publishers in Japan, it’s taken a lot of flights, a lot of FaceTime, a lot of listening…making sure I’m hearing their feedback, I think about Metaphor last year and our partnership on that game…the work that we’ve done with Sega…being on stage with Square…but yesterday with Team Ninja…just to get to roll it out yesterday and see the response is fantastic.”

In addition to Ninja Gaiden 4, which is due out Fall 2025, Xbox yesterday shadow-dropped Ninja Gaiden 2 Black on Series X|S, Game Pass, and other platforms.

Are you excited about Ninja Gaiden 4? Have you played Ninja Gaiden 2 Black yet? Tell us in the comments.

Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He’s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief.

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